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It is open enrollment season at work. This is the time of year you get to change your benefit elections to whatever you want to change them to without getting married, having a baby, adopting or getting divorced, spouse dying or losing a job, etc. Note that a lot of those things have to do with marriage.
My partner and I both work for progressive companies that offere domestic partnership benefits. That is a wonderful thing-we both have insurance. We both can add the other to our insurance during open enrollment.
The problem is the following:
When a married straight couple adds a spouse-that portion of the insurance is not taxed. When a domestic partner adds their partner (same sex or opposite sex)-the additional expense is taxed. It is federal law. How much does that mean each pay check (and note your premiums will vary depending on your employer's insurance and options etc) ? oh-between 50 and 100.00 per pay check not covered-depending on the plan I choose and the quick glance I gave it.
And should I elect to withhold money with an FSA or HSA (where you estimate your out of pocket costs, like co-pays and have them withheld pre-tax and then get reimbursement)? I can't use that money to pay for my partner's co-pays resulting from her being added to my insurance. Nope. Can't do it.
One other bit of info-if both of us are covered under the same policy and that person loses their job-married folk get to continue to cover their family and spouse under COBRA-at least have that option. Domestic partner? Nope. No way, doesn't matter even if the employer-sponsored plan originally covered that partner. It doesn't matter that the former employee – and not the former employer – pays the premium for this temporary coverage.
Not only that-there is additional paperwork. I run off and marry a man and decide to add him to my health insurance-any time of the year-I just notify HR. If I want to add my partner I need to submit a Statement of Domestic Partnership Form.
No, I am not a GLBT marriage person. I am not even a health care for all activist person. I tend to think of marriage as a cultural/religious type of commitment. I just want the government to stay out of making it a civil one.
It doesn't trouble me most of the year that this duality occurs. It troubles me during open enrollment and it troubles me a wee bit at tax time. The rest of the year, I am ok with the paperwork and the fact that if one of us drops dead, the other may not be able to claim the body...or the car. But, open enrollment and just having to glance past the tax implications of choosing to add my domestic partner and the process, in the enrollment info, makes me growl.
How do you handle this in your family? Everyone covered under the same policy? Each of you different? What if you ARE married with a legal spouse? How do you handle it then?
